A good friend and longtime See’s fanatic bought these for me as a gift. Isn’t that sweet of her? I’m always touched when my friends indulge my candy obsessions. In this case she knew I was working on trying more of See’s confections and thought that these would be a hit. She was right! Thank you Christy!

These little pops are mini versions of the larger lollipops. You can get them in all the same flavors, minus the seasonal ones, and even in a mixed box. Knowing all too well I am a sucker for butterscotch and vanilla varieties, I was presented with these two boxes. I’ve had the normal See’s lollipops before and loved them. The intense flavors with the sweet, cream base are just wonderful to eat. Plus the hard texture forces you to just suck on them (something I always hard a hard time doing, as I’m a chewer) and they last a good long time that way.

The size and shape of these little pops are like more oblong marbles. You can really see how they are sliced off of a giant tube of the candy (ohh, what a delicious thought!).

Butterscotch: A pretty, creamy caramel color. Smells sweet and buttery. The texture is hard and will stick to your teeth if you try and chew it. The flavor immediately gets your salivary glands going, and it’s sweet with strong brunt sugar, butter, and cream flavors. Wonderfully flavorful and satisfying.

Vanilla: A creamy beige color. This is much milder, sweeter and creamy with a intense vanilla flavor. It taste like a hard candy version of vanilla ice cream. It’s so delicious and terribly addicting.

I admit, despite their small size, they’re terribly satisfying to eat. They’re fun to share and they work very well in a candy dish. I think they have a nice niche like that. If only I had a need for a candy dish at work….

Last but not least, these Kazoozles are another new candy offering from Wonka. I was a bit nervous about trying these at first, as I’ve had the precursor to them, the SweeTart rope. Let’s just say I took a bite, realized the two of us didn’t get along, and threw the rest away. I recognized the format immediately, a thick chew, similar to red licorice, with a flavored filling on the inside. Since I am willing to give a second (or sometimes a third) chance to any candy, I was curious, and hopeful, to give the new Kazoozles a go.

The Kazoozles come in two flavors, a Cherry Punch, which I have here, and Pink Lemonade . You can read about the latter over on Candyblog.net’s review. These smell so strongly and soon as you open the packet. They reek of fresh cherries and fruit punch with the notes of berries, red fruits and pineapple dominating over the rest. I’m happy to say that’s faithful with the flavor description! Some might be put off by such a strong aroma, but I admit i really enjoyed it.

The texture is so thick and chewy, I’m immediately in love. It’s a nice and thick chew that’s soft with just the right amount of give. The blue center is fluffy, kinda like a slick marshmallow. In the mouth it’s feels spongy and slippery. As I was eating them I was able to nibble at these, which I appreciate, as it makes the candy last longer for me. It all comes down to the great chew that they have.

The flavor is very intense starting with strong burst of black cherry, which is nicely sweet and very strong. The cherry is thankfully not too bitter or medicinal, and it’s a really good cherry red licorice. The punch center tastes just like Hawaiian Punch, strong and fruity with a very sharp tartness to it.

I am very pleased with these and am glad to see such a vast improvement on a product. I’ve shared these with friends and they’ve all enjoyed them as much as I did. I hope to start seeing these in stores soon as I know I’ll have a craving for these every now and again, when I feel the new for something chewy and sour. I’m also really interested to try the Pink Lemonade flavor so I’m going to keep my eyes peeled.

I have a big passion for retro/classic candies. I think the biggest reason, aside from the fact that they’re usually delicious, is that they’re a marriage between two of some of my favorite things: food and history. So when I heard about the very retro/regional bar The Blue Monday, hailing from Kentucky, you bet I was super eager to get my hands on one. It took me a few years to finally get around to ordering myself some on the internet, but it was well worth the wait.

The package design is very classic, and reminds me of my favorite candy bar of all time: the Zero bar. It’s a bright silver wrapper with blue writing on it. The specific bars I got here have the 135th Kentucky Derby date and location on it. Just goes to show what a local candy this is!

The whole bar clocks in at 1 oz and 130 calories, which is a nice size for an afternoon snack. The ingredients are simple: sugar, water, cream, and bittersweet chocolate. Very straightforward and honest.

The bar is the size of a credit card and looks like a brick with a nice rippling texture from the chocolate enrobing. It smells wonderfully chocolatey with notes of sweetness, cream, cocoa and coconut.

My much anticipated first bite is immediately a surprise to me, as it’s very soft. It looks so hard and dense so I was expecting the center to be similar to taffy. Instead it’s very solid, very sweet, and immediately soft and airy on my tongue. It dissolves quickly and cleanly with no slick or greasy feel. The inside is actually a type of traditional cream pull candy, which is a more airy and light taffy. So in a way, my expectations were right.

The flavor is sweet, lightly milky and similar to marshmallows minus the vanilla. The chocolate is rich and solid in flavor with a pleasant creaminess. Very classic and old fashioned tasting, and I’m immediately smitten with it.

I’m so happy I finally gave this bar a try, and even though it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting (which, to be totally fair, I had no idea what to expect) it turned out to be something better. Just goes to show there’s a reason these bars are still made today!

Here’s another new candy coming from the wonderful world of Willy Wonka: Sluggles. Oooooo, typing that just made me shudder with the willies. These are basically gummis in the form of slugs. I don’t know about you, but slugs gross me out more than worms do (which are the typical “eww” gummi candy shape). I like how this form is taking the “gross” candy shape to a new level and it’s really fitting for the wacky and creative candy for the Wonka line.

The package is bright, colorful and eye-catching. I like how the shapes and flavors are clearly illustrated on the front. Apparently, these also don’t have any artificial colors or flavors in them. Nicely done Mr. Wonka.

Out of the package the gummis are a nice size, not too big or too small, and they have a nice squish to them. I see many children clamoring over these after school.

Grape: Starts off sweet tart and very berry tasting. The flavor then gets more concord grape notes, while remaining very tart and juicy.

Lemon: It’s nicely tart and has a zesty lemon flavor. I really loved this one as it reminded me of the lemon fruit snacks I traded for as a kid since no one else liked them.

Strawberry: Beautifully sweet and “red” tasting with no medicinal taste or bitterness. It starts sweeter and becomes more tart toward the end.

Orange: Surprisingly mellow with full notes of orange. It’s very juicy and slightly tart, but lacks that zest I expect with citrus flavors.

The Sluggles are cute, tasty, and hassle free. I think they’re be an idea hot-weather candy, good to take on a road trip as they won’t melt and are good at keeping your mouth occupied with the chewing. I especially like how I can share them with my boyfriend and we can giggle about eating slugs and feeling like six-year-olds doing it.

I really feel Mr. Willy Wonka put his thinking cap on for this one. Sour Gummi Mushrooms, how cool is that? I really like this zany and creative twist on sour gummi candies. It feels like a breath of fresh air amongst the other offerings out there (sorry to hate on all you that are shaped like fruit slices, I’m sorry). I was really excited to find these and even more excited to photograph and taste them. So creative, so unique.

The package is colorful and bright and pleasing to look at. The flavors and shapes are displayed on the front, so I immediately know what I should be expecting as flavors in the candy. I can’t lay my finger on it, but something about this pulls me in and begs me to try them.

The Puckerooms are delightful to look at. They’re colorful and the shapes cover a few different iconic varieties of mushrooms.

Each Puckeroom has a dusting of granular sugar on them, which I expect the sourness to come from. The texture is nice and soft with a good give to it, like a proper gummi should.

Grape: Starts off with wonderful flavor of concord grapes. Sweet, slightly tart and very juicy.

Cherry: Very flavorful with a deep, rich, cherry “red” flavor. Thankfully it’s not medicinal at all, just very tart.

Lemon/Orange: My favorite of the bunch. It begins with the tartness of the lemon and a bit of zest. Then it’s rounded off with a nice full sweetness of orange. Oh yum!

I like these a lot. They’re so cute and original and of course, tasty! I finished the bag I had off very quickly and those who I did share them with were all tickled by how cute they were. Hats off to you Willy Wonka.